Evolving typologies - Housing density. Architectural Concepts Inventory

“Evolving Typologies and Housing Density” is a project that brings up typological thought as a means of decoding the built environment and the way it is inhabited. Various historical periods in the evolution of Bucharest have witnessed different inhabiting models corresponding to particular architectural typologies and reflecting the conceptions and knowledge of the respective times: political, cultural, technical, social, esthetic, etc.

The research aims to investigate the implications of the typological reading of the city in the pedagogical and training process within the studio, both as a research and teaching method and as a basis for design reasoning through analogy and criticism.

The inventory of projects puts together the collective research gathered as part of the 3rd year architectural studio from “Ion Mincu” University of Architecture and Urban Planning Bucharest, studio 36. The students were invited to investigate the evolution of dense and collective housing projects in Bucharest and to subsequently use typological studies as a key resource in the process of rethinking the contemporary city, but also as a meaningful link between past, present and future. The pedagogic process focused on two major layers: the student’s conceptual approach of the project and its shaping into an architectural complex design.